k-mart, point-blank and other shenanigans

i had an unusually jam-packed saturday ^-^ my entire month's worth of interesting events squashed into one night..

10:00am
i arrive at work completely dolled up for dad's birthday dinner tonight, dressed snazzily in a little brown woolen matador-style jacket (it's older than i am.. yay for mum's ancient hand-me-downs.. vintage is back with a vengeance), charcoal top, grab belt, pinstripey trews, high heels and all. i leave the heels in the back room and proceed to work in socks.

yep. for the rest of the day i am a walking "what's wrong with this picture?".

11:00am
i'm working alone, since the others have gone for a morning coffee. slightly unstable-looking woman walks into the newsagent, and asks to see one of the porcelain baby dolls in the window. i climb into the display window and bring one out for her, she stands there clutching it to her chest for about ten minutes, staring off into space and singing to herself, then farts loudly, giggles, hands the baby back to me and waddles off.

i re-arrange the baby doll in the window, and liberally spray the counter & surrounds with air-freshener.

1:00pm
lunchtime! pumpkin soup with bread leaves dandruff-like breadcrumbs all over my jacket.. damn.

also, realise i've gone out to lunch in socks. with no shoes. oops.

3:00pm
awkwardly trying to fold large metre-long sheets of designer wrapping paper on the floor. discover that little matador-style jackets are not the way to go when trying to reach across for things - my shoulders lock up and i pitch over onto the wrapping paper.

4:00pm
still folding wrapping paper. crapsticks.

5:15pm
dash off to catch the tram into the city. fall over on tram twice due to instability of high heels, and my own stubborn belief that i can stand up without support because i am immune to the laws of physics.

5:35pm
decide there's just enough time to sneak into Minotaur before meeting mum & dad for dinner. fall down steep Minotaur steps (damn basement stores) and trip over own pant-legs before picking up 2 new books for the collection.. GetBackers #18 and Saiyuki Reload #7. yay!
cautiously hold onto the handrail going back up steps. heels are AWKWARD.

5:50pm
catch tram to restaurant. get squashed against door by old mediterranean man despite there being PLENTY of space on the tram. his arm is in my face and there's nowhere to go. then the tram stops suddenly and a girl falls on me, dropping her shopping bags with a squeal.

5:55pm
missed stop due to old mediterranean man not budging despite me asking him to "excuse me please" in three varying tones of politeness, irritation, and panic.

6:00pm
YES! still made it to Grossi Florentino looking completely posh and suitably dolled-up, despite having to walk back down Bourke for four minutes in heels.

AND have new books hidden in bag so mum can't see what i've been up to.

happily decide that i totally rock.

6:10pm
realise that own father has booked dinner at a posh restaurant despite his not knowing how to be posh.

try to stifle whimper when dad keeps asking the waiter if formaggio is cheese, despite me having told him it was.. only moments before. and then try not to sink into the floor when he asks the waiter to explain torte, panforte, gelato, pollo..

6:30pm
decide that chargrilled rump steak with a liberal dosing of fresh lemon is, quite possibly, the best way for one to partake of grilled beef, excepting a decent fresh-hot Whopper (without cheese) from Hungry Jack's.

7:10pm
laugh at myself when i discover that the panforte is the ice-cream version of fruitcake. with dates. i don't do dates.. of any kind.

7:30pm
wave goodbye to mum & dad as they head off to see Miss Saigon at the theatre. my brother and i make our way to where he's parked Caboose.. four blocks away.

7:40pm
have no choice but to drive, as brother has consumed glass of wine and, being on his P's, has been rendered unable to legally sit behind the wheel.

attempt to wrench off a high-heel in order to reach accelerator.. discover blister on foot to rival those once seen back in my ice-skating days.

7:45pm
lost in own city. how embarrassing.

8:00pm
home! stumble in the front door and struggle with shoe, only to be interrupted by phone call from K, to say she'll be over in ten minutes. just enough time to change into a more comfortable and carol-ish outfit of snow patrol hoodie and jeans.

last-minute quest for bandaids before Karen's arrival produces two fabric bandaids, but unfortunately none of those nice little advance-healing ones that are so handy for shoe-induced blisters.. and so bandaids goes on the shopping list along with brother's request for nice fluffy marshmallows.

9:30pm
upon finishing dinner/supper at David & Camy's Dumpling House, discover that some kind and unknown soul has already paid for our food. K and i try to puzzle out who it could be & why.. since we didn't see anyone we knew, we weren't aware of catching anyone's eye, and neither of us is dressed in what could even remotely be described as "pulling gear".

continue on our way, thoroughly bewildered. resolve to do something similarly nice for some random stranger next opportunity that arises.

9:40pm
having uncommonly good shooting accuracy playing Point Blank.. am utterly crap point-blanker, so am delighted and ecstatic beyond words whenever i shoot something.

possibly developing severe case of trigger-happiness.

karen still wins, naturally, but i'm quite content nonetheless. it has been a good day.

9:50pm
discover that my favourite pop'n'music game has been updated. also discover new random feature that neither karen and i quite understand. so we try it out.

spend the next minute answering japanese questions that the machine throws at us. we're randomly picking answers because neither of us understands exactly what is being asked.

spend the next ten minutes panicking and frantically button-mashing because we've manged to land ourselves some insanely difficult level where we're expected to have the musical talent and hand-eye coordination of geoffrey rush in Shine. naturally, we fail miserably.. but the music was fun.

10:00pm
satisfy my geeky otaku self by stopping to buy jap snackies from the asian grocery. score two little naruto phone accessory thingies.. neji and that blonde sensei, i forget her name.

karen gives me a little penguin-dolphin-dolphin keyring thing that mirjana bought for me - glee! i attach it to my bag o' stuff, where it can sit with pinga and paykel (identical twin brother of fisher) and do penguinous things.

10:30pm
yeeeaaaah, 24-hour k-mart!! almost got run over by petite brunette girl attempting to park next to us, but apart from that, a fairly normal k-mart run.

karen called carmen, who may or may not have been drunk.. ^-^ resulting in a very interesting phone call and possibly carmen getting rather confused.

played with lightsabers in the toy section. i couldn't get mine to work, i felt like such an ass. karen was all, "you have to push the button and THEN fling it!" but.. i just couldn't get the damn thing to work.

no jedi or sith lord am i. *sniffle* i have no midichlorians of which to speak, i have about as much of the Force as the average piece of coal has. i can't work a damned kiddie lightsaber. T-T

bought marshmallows for andge, bandaids for me, and.. lots of other stuff for me -_-;
minties, gummi bears.. i almost caved and bought some penguin pyjamas.

oh, and in the electronics section i experienced another wish for a DS-lite of my own.. ahh, all the games i could play.. i'm getting to be almost karen-like in my wanting to accumulate gadgets-to-play-with.

we found something fun for carmen, too.
(car.. you'll find out when karen comes to sydney ^-^)

most. eventful. non-holiday. saturday. ever.